Stage 9 in the Vuelta a España is the first proper high mountain contest. Following a race with 4,000 vertical metres the race boils down to a Ben King-Bauke Mollema clash on the final climb to La Covatilla with the American claiming his second stage success this Vuelta. Simon Yates moves into the GC lead, 1 second ahead of Alejandro Valverde.(Slideshow route/profile)

The eleven crest the first climb, Puerto del Pico, more than 5 minutes ahead of the peloton. The gap widens on the Alto de Gredos and the Puerto de Peña Negra to almost 7 minutes. On all climbs Maté pockets most KOM points to cement his lead in the mountain classification.

In the transition to the final climb the front group distances the peloton to more than 10 minutes.

With 20 kms remaining Mas accelerates and King joins him. King heads out alone on the steep cobbles in the village of Candelario. He tackles the climb to La Covatilla – 9.8 kilometres at 7.1% – 1.30 minutes ahead of the chasers and the peloton is more than 6 minutes in arrears.

Mollema is the only chaser left on the final haul up. He is coming closer along the way, but never closer than 20 seconds. The climb flattens out in the last kms and it’s there that King starts to pull away once more, and Mollema fades. On the lower slopes leader Rudy Mollard and Michal Kwiatkowski can’t follow the pace in the main group.

While King crosses the line, exhausted but jubilant, a group with Wilco Kelderman, Miguel Ángel López, Rigoberto Uran, Ion Izagirre and Nairo Quintana leave the other GC contenders behind. Simon Yates desperately tries to bridge across, but fails. Yet, he comes close enough to move into the overall lead, 1 second ahead of Alejandro Valverde. Nairo Quintana now sits in third, 14 seconds down on the leader’s jersey.